1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compressor used in refrigeration cycles and, more particularly, to a compressor designed to effectively attenuate operational noises and vibrations caused by the surging of an exhaust working fluid under high pressure within a discharge plenum of the compressor, thus improving the operational reliability of the refrigeration cycles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As well known to those skilled in the art, a reciprocating compressor is a device that compresses and discharges a working fluid by a reciprocating motion of a piston. The reciprocating compressors have been typically used for compressing a working fluid to make a highly pressurized working fluid in a refrigeration cycle.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are an exploded perspective view and a sectional view of a part of a conventional reciprocating compressor.
As shown in the drawings, the conventional compressor comprises a valve seat 106, a head cover 108, and a control valve 118. The head cover 108 covers the top of the valve seat 106 to form a cavity between the valve seat 106 and the head cover 108. A fluid inlet 102 is formed at the valve seat 106, and allows an introduction of a highly pressurized working fluid, compressed by a reciprocating motion of a piston (not shown), into the cavity between the valve seat 106 and the head cover 108. The valve seat 106 also has a fluid outlet 104, through which the highly pressurized working fluid is discharged from the cavity. The control valve 118 is mounted to the valve seat 106 so as to control the fluid inlet 102.
The cavity, defined between the valve seat 106 and the head cover 108 and used for temporarily storing the highly pressurized working fluid therein, is a so-called discharge plenum 112. A valve spring 120 and a retainer 122 are mounted to the valve seat 106 at positions above the control valve 118.
The retainer 122 holds the first ends of both the control valve 118 and the valve spring 120, and limits the opening angle of the control valve 118.
In an operation of the conventional reciprocating compressor, a highly pressurized working fluid compressed by a reciprocating motion of the piston is introduced into the discharge plenum 112 through the fluid inlet 102. In such a case, the control valve 118 is opened while overcoming the spring force of the valve spring 120 due to the pressure of the inlet working fluid. Therefore, the working fluid is introduced into the discharge plenum 112, and is increased in its pressure to a predetermined level prior to being discharged from the plenum 112 through the fluid outlet 104.
However, the conventional compressor is problematic as follows. That is, when the highly pressurized working fluid is introduced into the discharge plenum 112 through the fluid inlet 102, the working fluid actively surges and is instantaneously compressed within the discharge plenum 112, thus colliding against the interior wall of the plenum 112. Due to such a surging of the working fluid within the discharge plenum 112, the conventional reciprocating compressor undesirably generates operational noises and vibrations, in addition to a reduction in flow rate during an operation.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a compressor for refrigeration cycles, which is provided with a noise attenuation structure on the interior wall of the discharge plenum, thus effectively absorbing and attenuating the impact waves of the working fluid generated when the impact waves collide against the interior wall of the plenum, and which thus effectively attenuates operational noises and vibrations during an operation.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a reciprocating compressor, comprising: at least one reciprocating piston operatively compressing a working fluid within said compressor; and a valve assembly, wherein said valve assembly includes a valve seat covered with a head cover at its top to form a discharge plenum between said valve seat and said head cover, said discharge plenum temporarily storing a pressurized working fluid therein, said valve seat having a fluid inlet used for allowing an introduction of the pressurized working fluid into said discharge plenum, and a fluid outlet used for discharging the pressurized working fluid from the discharge plenum; a control valve mounted to said valve seat and used for controlling the fluid inlet; and noise attenuation means provided within said discharge plenum for absorbing and attenuating impact waves of the working fluid during an introduction of the working fluid into the discharge plenum, thus attenuating operational noises and vibrations caused by said impact waves, wherein said noise attenuation means comprises a plurality of micro-projections formed on an interior wall of the discharge plenum, with of micro spaces being defined between the microprojections and the interior wall of the discharge plenum and being capable of capturing working fluid drops therein.